March 26, 2020
Summary: A very cold unstable pool of air is currently above central California. As of 1:30 this afternoon, showers were ringing the valley over the Coast Range, the Sierra Nevada, and the Kern County mountains. Don’t be surprised if a few showers or even a thunderstorm or two forms over the valley between now and the evening hours, though most locations will remain dry.
The next challenge will be overnight low temperatures tonight. the freezing level overnight over Oakland and Vandenberg was only 3,700 feet. With the air mass this cold and clearing occurring tonight, widespread mid to upper 30s are anticipated tonight. more on this below in the frost discussion.
This system will finally slide into Nevada and Arizona late tonight and tomorrow morning for a short period of dry weather. The next trough to move out of the Gulf of Alaska is not as cold and is considerably weaker. Showers will spread over northern California Saturday morning, reaching Fresno County by late afternoon. The chance of measurable rain south of Fresno County is still quite low. The chance of showers will continue through Sunday. The trough will then move into the Desert Southwest Sunday night and Monday.
A flat zone of upper level high pressure will dominate the eastern Pacific next week, extending inland through the southern 2/3 of California. The storm track will essentially run from west to east, possibly spreading showers into the northern 1/3 of California from time to time. The latest model information still shows dry conditions, but does not indicate a big warm up as had been earlier indicated. Temperatures Monday through Friday of next week shouldn’t stray far from average. This time of year, those temperatures are in the upper 60s and the lower 70s.
Forecast: Partly cloudy this evening with a small chance of isolated showers or thunderstorms, mainly near the foothills. Partly cloudy later tonight through Friday morning. mostly clear to partly cloudy Friday afternoon through Saturday morning. increasing cloudiness Saturday afternoon with a chance of light showers from Fresno County north by evening. A chance of scattered light showers Saturday night and Sunday, mainly from Fresno County north. Partly cloudy Sunday night and Monday morning. mostly clear to occasionally partly cloudy Monday night through Thursday.
Short Term:
| Madera 34/62/37/63 | Reedley 35/63/38/63 | Dinuba 32/61/35/62 | |
| Porterville 34/62/38/63 | Lindsay 33/61/36/62 | Delano 36/62/39/63 | |
| Bakersfield 40/63/41/63 | Taft 39/62/40/63 | Arvin 36/62/39/63 | |
| Lamont 37/63/40/63 | Pixley 34/62/37/63 | Tulare 32/61/36/62 | |
| Woodlake 33/61/37/62 | Hanford 35/62/38/63 | Orosi 32/61/36/63 | |
Winds: Winds will be generally out of the northwest at 5 to 12 MPH through this evening. Winds Friday through Sunday will be generally variable to no more than 12 MPH.
Rain: As of the time of this writing, showers were ringing the valley on all sides. It’s possible isolated showers or a thunderstorm or two could occur between now and the evening hours, but the vast majority of locations will remain dry. Tonight through most of Saturday will be dry with light showers spreading as far south as Fresno County by late Saturday afternoon with a continuing possibility of scattered light showers Saturday night through Sunday. South of Fresno County, the chance of measurable rain will be considerably less. Where precipitation does occur, less than .10 can be anticipated. A dry pattern will set up Sunday night and will last through next week. Models do show the storm track moving a bit further south than previous model runs, but still only expected to affect the northern one-third of California.
Frost Discussion: A very cold pool of air is above central California this afternoon. Widespread mid to upper 30s are anticipated tonight where skies are generally clear. Low lying regions such as river bottoms could easily dip into the lower 30s tonight for a couple of hors before sunrise. Most locations will range between 33 and 38 degrees. If, by chance, a location remains mostly cloudy, temperatures will only drop into the upper 30s to lower 40s. coldest locations Saturday morning will drop down to 33 to 37 or so. All locations will be above freezing Sunday morning and beyond. The flow at the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere will be generally out of the west, meaning there will be no chance of freezing conditions.
Next report: March 27/morning